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From 700 BCE to CE 1300, thousands of scholars from many different civilizations introduced mathematical ideas that established the foundations of arithmetic, number theory, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, as well as the related sciences of astronomy and physics. Although we know very little about specific individuals who made important mathematical discoveries in Babylonia, Egypt, and China, historians in Arabia, ancient Greece, India, and medieval Italy preserved a more complete record, including the identities of some of the innovators.
The Birth of Mathematics profiles 10 individuals from these four cultures during this time period as representatives of the numerous scholars who contributed to the field of mathematics. Each chapter contains information on the person's research, discoveries, and contributions to the field and concludes with a list of print and Internet references specific to that individual.